Galaxy S3 vs. Galaxy S4: Does the New Model Bring Any Serious Changes?

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The Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. Galaxy S4 battle appears to be a more even match-up than if the S3 was being pitted against the S2.

Sure, the Galaxy S4 is an amazing smartphone with some really interesting features, but is it worth it to dump the S3 and pay full price for the new model if you are a fan of Samsung hardware? That's a tough question to answer.

In terms of design, the Galaxy S4 outclasses its predecessor as its overall look is much closer to the elegance of an iPhone, ditching the tapered rounded edges found on the S3 replacing it with a straight edge. The metal on the sites also helps the device look a lot less cheap. The all plastic look was complained about frequently by smartphone enthusiasts.

Both devices are extremely fast in their own rights. The Galaxy S4 features a quad-core processor in the U.S., making it the quicker and more efficient of the two, but the Galaxy S3 still packs enough power to multi-task efficiently and to run the most complex applications. Their displays are capable of showing content in HD, however, the Galaxy S4 goes Full on with 1080 x 1920 resolution. The overall hardware jump from the S3 is not as significant as it was from the S2 to the next-generation.

The main differences with the Galaxy S3 and S4 are the new features Samsung has introduced, such as Smart Stay, Smart Scroll and Dual Shot capabilities.

The Smart Stay feature will pause a video once the user looks away using a sensor on the device and the Smart Scroll will automatically make a page scroll up or down by determining what direction the user is moving their head in. Both of these features are really cool and innovative, but neither of them are as responsive as they need to be in order to be game changers. Dual Shot is another interesting addition which allows users to use the front and back camera simultaneously to create an image.

The additions made to the Galaxy S4 are just not enough for someone to ditch their S3 and pay full price for the new version. For those of you still carrying around the Galaxy S2, the S4 is definitely the better phone, but not by much. If you're looking to save money and have a device under contract, you might want to consider the S3 as you can probably get it for close to free on most carriers. The Galaxy S4 is definitely a state of the art handset, but the Galaxy S3 is far from being outdated.